Registering and canceling ballot-box



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(N0 Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2. S. J. HOWELL,

REGISTERING AND GANUELING BALLOT BOX.

No. 332,398. Patented Dec. 15, 1885.

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S. J. HOWELL.

REGISTERING AND GANGELING BALLOT BOX.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrics.

SILAS J. HOW'ELL, OF BOSTON, MASSAOHUSETS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AHERL CANBALLOT BOX ASSOCIATION, OF MASSACHUSETTS.

REGlSTERiNG AND CANCELlNG BALLOT-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,398, dated December15, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SILAS J. HOWELL, of Boston, county of Suffolk, Stateof Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Bal- 5 lot-Boxes, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

My invention is embodied in a ballot-box containing mechanism forreceiving the ballots one at a time and sounding an alarm as each one isreceived, and also for indicating on a suitable register or dial thetotal number of ballots received, the said register being visible to thepublic, and also for canceling by imprinting or stamping each ballot asreceived.

The invention consists, mainly, in details of construction of thevarious parts whereby the operation is rendered positive and certain.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a ballotboX embodying this invention;Fig. 2, a plan view of the internal mechanism thereof; Fig. 3, a sideelevation of the said mechanism; Fig. 4, an elevation of a portion ofthe mechanism as seen from the opposite side; Fig. 5, a longitudinalsection of the said mechanism on line a", Fig. 2; Fig. 6, a section online 7/ 1 Fig. 5, showing the registering mechanism in elevation; andFigs. 7 to 10,details to be referred to.

The box A, of suitable sizeand. shape to contain the operative mechanismand to receive the tickets or ballots used in voting, is provided withan opening, A, through which the ballots are introduced one at a time.The ballots or tickets when inserted within the opening A are receivedbetween the peripheries of two rolls, a b, the former of which is fixedon a shaft, a, having hearings in suitable frame-work, 1 containedwithin the box. The cylinder or roll I) has its bearings in a frame,'7), pivoted at b (see Fig. on the main frame-work, and acted upon by aspring, I), by which the said roll Z) is pressed toward the one a, so asto produce friction between the said rolls and the ballot or strip ofpaper inserted between them, the said roll Z) being capable of yieldingor moving away from the roll or drum a, so as not to injure the workingparts in case a large body should be inserted between the said rolls, asmay be done for the purpose of interfering with the operation of thebox. The shaft a of the ballot-feeding drum or roll a is provided with asocket-piece, o having a squared socket, (see Fig. 8,) or beingotherwise adapted to receive an actuating key or crank, e, by means ofwhich the said shaft and drum (4 thereon may be rotated to draw theballot inserted between the peripheries of the rolls a b through betweenthe said rolls so that it will drop into the box. The soeket-piece a isnot positively connected with the shaft a, but has a shouldered flangeor disk, c turning freely between connected flanges or collars (K, fixedupon the shaft a, and provided with a pawl,

a, which, when the said socket piece is turned in one direction, isengaged by the shouldered flange a", causing the shaft to and drum a toturn with it, although the socketpiece rotates freely in the oppositedirection without turning the drum a. The shaft of the crank c isprovided with a roller, 0, entering a suitable socket or recess in aplate, 0", attached to the side of the box, and is held therein by alocking-plate, 0*, having a sliding movement on the plate 0 and providedwith an opening, 0, which, when the said plate is raised, will permitthe collar 0 to pass through into its socket in the plate 0. The opening0 in the locking-plate has a narrower ofiset,

so that by sliding the plate 0 down after the crank c has been placed inproper position the said plate 0 will embrace the shaft of the crank cin front of the collar a, retaining the shaft in proper position so longas it is desired to operate the box. After the ballots are all in theshaft or key 0 will be removed by the proper official, preventingfurther op- 0 eration of the mechanism within the box.

A stop, shown as a yielding springpressed bolt, iii/,(see Fig. 8,)arrests the mo vcment ofthe crank at the end of each rotation, it beingnecessary to press the said bolt out of engagement with the crank beforethe shaft a and drum a can be again rotated. The drum a is provided withone or more bands, at, of type or other impressing devices, whichproject slightly beyond the periphery ofthe said drum, the roll ordrum 1) having a corresponding groove 0r recess, b, so that the saidimpressing devices do not come in contact with the periphery thereof,thus leaving the main unbroken surfaces of the rollers free to engagethe ballot or strip of paper passing between them.

The groove 1) is somewhat deeper than the amount of projection of theband of type from the drum a, so that in case the rolls are turned whileno paper or ballot is between them the impressing devices will not touchthe recessed portion of the roll I), which will consequently neverbecome smeared with ink, as wouldbe the case if the impression devicescame in contact therewith. The support of the ungrooved portion of theroll I) at the sides of the grooves is sufficient to cause the ballot tobe properly imprinted without being supported directly oppositethe type.The impressing devices will thus print a continuous line of charactersfrom end to end of the ballot or ticket, crossing all the names printedthereon or applied thereto before the ballot is cast or voted in theform known as pasters or stickers, so that if a paster should be removedfrom the ballot after it was receivedin thebox the fact would be knownwith certainty by the interruption in the line of characters, or if sucha paster were subsequently applied the fact will be indicated by theabsence of the characters thereon, or by their failure to properly matchwith those on the remainder of the ticket in case it were attempted tocounterfeit the characters on the paster before applying it, and ifthere should be reason to suspect the application of counterfeit pastersthe truth would be known with certainty by removing the paster andascertaining whether or not the ballot had been impressed underneath it.In order to render such attempts at counterfeiting more difficult, thecharacters are preferably arranged in an intelligible order, so that anyirregularity will be noticeable, but they are of a somewhat unusualformsuch, for instance, as a printed sentence, clause, or date, made ofunusual or irregular type, as shown in Fig. 10, where the upper andunder portions of the type are alternately removed in the consecutiveportions of the line of type, and, as they will not come in the sameposition on the different ballots or tickets, it will be impossible toprovide pasters with characters that would match properly with thoseabove and below them on the ticket.

It will be understood that the impressing devices will .lead todetection of d iplicate ballots, as in case two are passed togetherbetween the rolls at a single operation thereof, the under one will notbe imprinted or canceled, and all such uncanceled ballots will have tobe discarded, in making the final account, as fraudulent.

The said type or impressing devices are provided with ink from afountain or reservoir, consisting of a tube, d, pivoted on a frame, (2,itself pivoted on the main framework B, and acted upon by a spring, dpressing. a pad or roller, d of absorbent material,

saturated with the ink contained in the tubu: lar reservoir (1 againstthe type, the position of the said frame at" being adjusted by a screwor equivalent adjusting device, (1. The pad (1 of absorbent material, isheld in place by flanges d on the tubed, as shown in Fig. 2, the saidpad being composed, for instance, of a strip of cloth or similarmaterial wound around the said tube between the said flanges. The tube dis provided between the flanges and within the surrounding absorbent padwith perforations d (clearly shown in Fig. 5,) thus permitting inkcontained within the tube to pass into the said pad, so as to bedistributed thereby on the type or printing devices.

The journals of the frame d are supported in notches in the main frameB, so that the said frame (1 may be easily removed for the purpose offilling the fountain or reservoir d,

which has openings 61 (see Fig. 2,) to receive the ink, the saidopeningsbeing covered by pieces d of rubber or elastic tubing, which may beraised for a few moments before the apparatus is to be set in operation,so-as to admit air and permit the pad (I to become saturatedsufficiently for a days use.

The rolls a b are both provided with deep grooves a" b (shown in dottedlines in Fig. 5 and in the case of roll a in'full linesin Fig. 2,) whichreceive yielding rods or wirestt, press ing against the said rollers atthe bottom of the grooves, and serving to strip or detach the ballotsfrom the surfaces of the rolls in case they adhere thereto, thuspreventing them from becoming wound around one or the other of the saidrolls. The stripping devices 15 bear on the roll 12 at the bottom of thegrooves substantially in line with the direction of movement of the saidroll about the axis 1) toward and from the roll a, thus alwaysmaintaining the said rods t in substantially the same relation to theroll.

By having thejournals ofthe roll I) in ayielding frame,the said'roll hasasubstantially-parallel movement toward and from the roll a, and is notlikely to bind,as is the case where the roll is made yielding by meansof independently yielding boxes or bearings at each end of the roll, inwhich construction a large article inserted between the rolls near oneend thereof will cause the adjacent bearing to yield, thus inclining theyielding roll and possibly causing it to wedge or get held fast in theframework.

As only one ballot can be conveyed into the boX and canceled at eachcomplete rotation of the drum, it will be understood that an account orrecord of the number of times that the said drum has been rotated willindicate the exact number of ballots cast, and in order to indicate thenumber of such operations and thus afford a check against falsecountingof the ballots, the box is provided with registering mechanismindicating the number of times the drum a has operated.

The shaft a is provided with a crank, eccentric,or Wristpin, a (see Fig.3,) connect- IIO ed by a pitman or connecting rod, 0, with one arm of alever, e, pivoted at 6 upon the main frame-work, and having its otherarm Connected by a rod or link, 6, (best shown in Fig. 6,) with apawl-carrying arm, 6", provided with a pawl, 6 cooperating with theteeth of a ratchet or toothed disk, 6, the shaft or arbor of which isprovided with a hand or pointer, 6 (see Fig. 1,) cooperating with asuitable dial properly spaced or graduated and numbered.

The connecting-rode is shown as screwthreaded at its end which passesthrough an eyeplate, e adjustably connected with the lever 6, so as tovary the length of the leverarm, and consequently the amount of angularmovement imparted to the said lever, and the said plate is engaged bynuts 6 on the threaded end of the rod 6, so that each complete rotationof the drum causes a to-andfro movement of the pawl 0 by which the disk0 is turned for the space of one tooth and the pointer 6 advanced onespace on the dial. The disk and pointer are prevented from turning,except when positively actuated by the pawl, by means of a frictiondevice, 6, consisting of a spring bearing upon the arbor of the saiddisk and pressing the face of the lat ter against a washer, e. The diske is shown as provided with fifty teeth, and the dial has consequentlyfifty spaces,and will indicate the number of the rotations of the drum aup to fifty,and in order to indicate beyond this number the said disk isprovided with a pin, f, which, at the end of a rotation or when thepointer is about to indicate fifty, engages an arm of the pawl-carryinglever f, the other arm of which is provided with a pawl, f cooperatingwith the teeth of a disk, f, provided with a pointer, f*, similar to one6 so that at each movement of the lever f, produced by the pin f at theend of each complete rotation of the disk 0 the disk f 3 is advanced onetooth and the po nterf one space on its dial, the spaces of which aremarked with the consecutive multiples of fifty, so that by adding thenumber indicated by the pointer 6 to that indicated by the pointer f thetotal number of the operations of the drum a, aid consequently ofballots cast,will beknown. The lever f is restored to its normalposition or moved back to cause the pawl f to engage the next tooth ofthe disk f after the pin f has passed and disengaged the said lever bymeans of a spring, f and its backward movement is limited by a stop, J.The disk f is also acted on bya friction device, f, similar to the one eIn order to indicate to all persons in the vicinity when each vote iscast, so that more than one vote or ballot cannot be cast ata time andregistered without detection, each rotation of the drum is accompaniedby an audible alarm, produced by a gong or equivalent, 9, having ahammer, g, mounted on a slideloar, g acted upon by a spring, 9 tendingto move it in the direction to strike the hammer, the

said rod being moved in the opposite direction, and the springcompressed by a cam, g, on the shaft a, (see Fig. 4,) the radial portionof which permits the spring o to move the said rod and cause the hammerto strike a sharp blow on the hell or gong g, tl.e said hammer beingprovided with a yielding cushion, 9 which stops the hammer after itsrecoil, preventing it from checking the vibrations of the gong or hell.The box A is pref erably provided with an opening, A opposite the gong,to enable it to be clearly heard, the said opening being covered withwire'gauze or an equivalent, to prevent tampering with the mechanismwithin the box. The box is made in two parts, hinged or otherwiseconnected together, and locked or fastened while the voting is going on,but enabling it to be opened at the proper time for the removal of theballots.

The frame 13 of the operative mechanism is fastened to the upper part ofthe box and removed therewith from the lower part, which receives theballots. The strippers t t are nearly tangential to the rollers, and thelower part of the frame-work B is provided with a shield or apron, m,(see Fig. 5,) preventing the ballots from entering within the said framework when they drop from the rolls.

The bystanders observing the number indicated by the pointers at theclosing of the polls will know whether or not the votes of the precinctor district at which the box was used are properly counted, and anyattempt at fraud by the improper use of pastors or by duplicates will bedetected at the time of counting, and all votes not properly canceledmay then be discarded as false or fraudulent.

It is obvious that the printing devices might be on the lower instead ofthe upper roll, in which case the ballots would be inserted in the boxface downward, or, if desired, both rolls may be provided with printingdevices which would not be directly opposite to one another.

1. The ballot-feeding roll provided with a circumferential band ofimprinting devices projecting beyond the periphery of the roll, combinedwith the co operating roll having a circumferential groove cooperatingwith the said band, the said groove being deeper than the amount ofprojection of theband, whereby the main portion of the rolls may come incontact without contact between the printing devices and grooved portionof the roll, substantially as described.

2. The ballot-feeding roll or drum provided with a circumferential bandof imprinting devices,combined with the rotary tubular inkreservoirprovided with flanges and perforated between said flanges, and anabsorptive pad on said reservoir between said flanges supplied with inkthrough the said perforations, and a flexible cover for an inksupplyingpassage in said reservoir, substantially as described.

3. The rotary ballot-feeding drum or roll a,

having the grooves a and fixed bearings, the roll I), having grooves band the stripping rods or wires t t, engaging the said grooves,respectively, as shown, combined with the frame I), in which the roll bhas fixed bearings, the said frame being pivoted at b and supported byspring b so that the said roll b can and must move on the pivot b inparallelism with the roll a, and not otherwise, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a ballot-box, the ba1lot-feeding drum or roll a, having the shafta, combined with the socket-piece c", having ashouldered flange 'to thisspecification in the presence of two sub- 20 scribing, witnesses.

' SILAS J. HOWELL.

Witnesses: J 0s. P. LIVERMORE, W. H. SIGsToN.

